


Savour

by tajador



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Implied KaliJami, M/M, Platonic Kissing, Shotgunning, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tajador/pseuds/tajador
Summary: Kalim looks at him, and it's enough. He listens, he smiles — He makes Yuu feel like he's part of something, like he's no different from everyone else, like he's meant to be here. Drowning in a pile of cushions, fingers sticky from eating dried fruits, head spinning from reading one too many grimoire.Yuu has a crush and Kalim is Kalim.
Relationships: Player/Kalim Al-Asim
Comments: 6
Kudos: 57





	Savour

**Author's Note:**

> the self-indulgence is strong in this one...

It was unusual, to say the least, for Kalim to invite him and him alone. _The more the merrier_ always seemed to be his way about things, Yuu's classmates and friends being just as welcome as he is, even if it meant spending most of the party in the kitchen where he no longer left Jamil to work alone.

Yuu recognizes most of the students sitting around Scarabia's dorm lounge, some studying impossibly large grimoires, most scrambling to complete homework, a few playing board games, others snoring on piles of cushion, passed out from their respective club practice. It's cozy, warm, a home in an uncertain space, a family for those who had none, or too heavy of one.

He feels his heart sink for a second — Lonely, lost.

But Kalim calls out to him just as surely, gesturing Yuu over, patting the cushion beside him invitingly. Kalim had grown within the past few months but his smile stayed as true as ever, gifted to Yuu whenever they'd walk past each other in the hallways, caught each other's eyes in the cafeteria, found themselves picking herbs in the greenhouse during the same period. It isn't his alone, Yuu is more than aware — His existence a dissonant speck of dust in the reality of their galaxy — but it's a constant, a way to feel welcome, accepted in a world that isn't his.

He lets himself fall onto the cushion, leaning into the colorful pile of pillows behind him. _Comfy_.

"Good, good, make yourself at home!" Kalim pats his thigh and laughs, his hand warm even through Yuu's uniform. "Long day?"

"Long day." Yuu sighs, thinking of the essay he still has to finish for Grim. "You ran out of games to keep my friends busy?"

"Hm?" Kalim picks some fruits out of the meze platter by his side, shoves them towards Yuu's face.

"Ace and Deuce. You told me to—" Yuu grabs a fig but Kalim shoves an apricot into his mouth just as quickly. "—cohme awone?"

"Oh, I did, huh?" Kalim laughs again, leaning forward to grab the hose of one of the hookah set up in the lounge.

Squinting and raising an eyebrow, Yuu waits for an explanation. The invitation didn't bother him per say — Obviously, his eyes glued to Kalim's deft fingers toying with the base of the wooden mouthpiece — but he'd like to think he's perceptive enough to notice his schoolmates acting even the slightest bit unusually, always prepared to manage the next crisis.

"Well..." Tipping his head sideways, Kalim stares at the ceiling as if an answer would fall out of it. "I guess I wanted to spend time with you? Is that weird?"

Yuu hums, finishing off the apricot. "Just surprising. What's one more party?"

"Sorry, sorry!" Kalim chuckles before placing the end of the hose between his lips, softly inhaling until the water in the vase at the bottom of the contraption becomes animated, bubbling until Kalim opens his mouth again, turning away from Yuu to softly blow out smoke. A faint draft of mint reaches Yuu's nose anyways, but the scent is soon overpowered by the various candles, snacks and teapots scattered around the room, each group of students gathered around their own. "I think Jamil's been preoccupied lately. Tests, sports matches, stuff back home, y'know."

"Isn't he always?" Yuu picks more snacks out of the meze platter, but eyes Kalim's fingers on the hose, still. "You're just noticing it more."

An awkward laugh. "You're probably right, huh? Point is, I just know he won't let me organize even the smallest sleepover without dropping his textbooks to rush to the kitchen while cursing at me the whole way!"

"Are you saying he doesn't know I'm here?" Yuu sinks further into his newly claimed pillows, looking up at Kalim's face now, his senior resting his chin on his hand.

"It's fine, it's alright! You're pretty much one of us now!" Kalim laughs before taking another inhale, so casual in proclaiming something so grand.

"I'm... Not sure he thinks the same." But Yuu smirks, warmth in his chest. "But thanks."

"No, seriously! He totally likes you!" And Kalim smiles like _that_ again, dousing Yuu in starlight and care and all that was so rare in this wonderland.

"What about you?" Yuu moves his mouth without thinking, but Kalim doesn't stop smiling.

"Me? Of course I like Jamil, too! No matter what!" So sure of his reply. _I know that, dummy_. But Yuu laughs with him.

"I meant..." Yuu knows, anyways. "No, nevermind."

Kalim likes him, just like how he likes his dorm mates, and his classmates, and his clubmates, and the other dorm prefects, and his mermaid friends, and his dozens of siblings. Not as much as his childhood friend-now-not-friend-but-who-he-loves-still, but it always feels good to be told we're liked, right?

Well, maybe words aren't necessary. Kalim looks at him, and it's enough. He listens, he smiles — He makes Yuu feel like he's part of something, like he's no different from everyone else, like he's meant to be here. Drowning in a pile of cushions, fingers sticky from the dried fruits, head spinning from reading one too many grimoire.

He watches Kalim take another drag, thin but glossy lips carefully wrapped around the tip of the mouthpiece, eyes closed momentarily before they meet Yuu's again. _Oh no_.

"What~? You're making a weird face!" Smoke slips past Kalim's lips as he talks, gesturing along with his teasing. "Oh, woah! I forgot to ask if you wanted any! My bad, my bad!"

"Uh, I never—"

"Wait, you should taste it first! To see if you like this flavour?"

Yuu watches the water in the vase bubble up again, curious, admittedly, although it was familiar in contrast to all the magical contraptions he had encountered within the past months. Well, there likely is some magic at play here as well, somehow,

Thoughts interrupted by fingers reaching for his chin, turning to face Kalim again, so close to him. _Wait—_ A light brush at first, his senior's lips barely grazing his, a muted gasp caught in Yuu's throat as Kalim grabs his jaw. _Omg?!??_ He's pulled closer and _Yep those are Kalim's lips, oh man_ , sweetness seeping in, soft until Kalim slips his tongue between his lips and Yuu is made to welcome him, the sweet smoke escaping Kalim's mouth to make its way into his.

It _does_ taste of the mint it smelled... Maybe? Yuu isn't focused on that detail whatsoever, instead reaching for Kalim's wrist, grabbing hold of a reality that seemed too good to be true. He takes in as much as he can, sensations, that is — Of Kalim's hand on his jaw, firm for what he lacked in height he made up for with physical strength. Tongue, too warm as he lingers within Yuu's mouth, _why_? Eyes, closed, of stars and sunlight scattered upon his painted lids, _he's right there_. Breathing, _that's right, breathe, Yuu_ , hot exhale and sharing what is his with Yuu, space and smoke.

Lips, pressed together, and Yuu wants them, forgetting to inhale in favor of hunger, dancing with them and feeling them and—

Yuu coughs, the smoke caught in his throat, itches and tickles and new experiences, Kalim laughing as he quickly pours him a glass of tea.

"Wow!! You okay? Drink up!" Kalim pats Yuu's back after shoving the tea into his hands, and things are as they had always been.

Almost. Yuu sips at his dried lime tea dejectedly yet notices Kalim at the corner of his eye, still looking at him, hand resting on his back now — Even more reason for Yuu to feel self-conscious, his whole body trembling to the rhythm of his frantic heartbeats.

"You two..." _Uh-oh_. The sound of Jamil's voice makes Yuu choke on his tea, slowly turning to face him. "Better be here to study."

Oh, Yuu _was_ studying, alright. A certain young heir's lips, that is.

"Oh, Jamil! Come here, wanna taste the new mu'assel?" And Kalim reaches for his vice-prefect's collar while bringing the tip of the hose to his mouth again, Jamil clicking his tongue and groaning some complaints but letting Kalim press his lips to his afterwards anyway. 

Yuu's heart skips a beat, or two, or ten. _Wow._

He shouldn't stare, probably, none of the other students were — But he does, wondering if he laid against Kalim's lips for even half that long, watching Kalim's fingers tangle into Jamil's hair and the way a smile had so obviously formed on his busy lips.

Yuu isn't special. He isn't any different. He doesn't know where to find a home to return to. He doesn't even know why he's here. But he's like everyone else when his friends drag him along their misadventures, when Azul tries to swindle him, when Vil stops him in the hallways to powder his forehead, when Riddle invites him for tea, when Kalim smiles and touches and _kisses_ , now, apparently.

And it's enough.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you :D you can find more stories as well as thoughts & translations on my 100%-twst-97%-scarabia twitter: [@mrromrro](https://twitter.com/mrromrro) ♡


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